專八閱讀訓練：Brain Process and Mental Experience
By 1950, the results of attempts to relate brain processesto mental experience appeared rather discouraging. Suchvariations in size, shape, chemistry, conduction speed, excitationthreshold, and the like as had been demonstrated in nerve cellsremained negligible in significance for any possible correlationwith the manifold dimensions of mental experience.
Near the turn of the century, it had been suggested by Hering that different modes of sensation,such as pain, taste and color, might be correlated with the discharge of specific kinds of nervousenergy, However, subsequently developed methods of recording and analyzing nerve potentialsfailed to reveal any such qualitative diversity. It was possible to demonstrate by other methodsrefined structural differences among neuron types; however, proof was lacking that the quality ofthe impulse or its conduction was influenced by these differences, which seemed instead toinfluence the developmental patterning of the neural circuits. Although qualitative variance amongnerve rigidly disproved, the doctrine was generally abandoned in favor of the opposing view,namely, that nerve impulses are essentially homogeneous in quality and are transmitted as“common currency” throughout the nervous system. According to this theory, it is not the qualityof the sensory nerve impulses that determines the diverse conscious sensations they produce,but, rather, the different areas of the brain into which they discharge, and there is some evidencefor this view. In one experiment, when an electric stimulus was applied to a given sensory field ofthe cerebral cortex of a conscious human subject, it produced a sensation of the appropriatemodality for that particular locus, that is, a visual sensation from the visual cortex, an auditorysensation from the auditory cortex, and so on. Other experiments revealed slight variations in thesize, number, arrangement, and interconnection of the nerve cells, but as for as psychoneuralcorrelations were concerned, the obvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemedmuch more remarkable than any of the minute differences.
However, cortical as diverse as those of red, black, green and white, or touch, cold, warmth,movement, pain, posture and pressure apparently may arise through activation of the samecortical areas. What seemed to remain was some kind of differential patterning effects in the brainexcitation: it is the difference in the central distribution of impulses that counts. In short, Braintheory suggested a correlation between mental experience and the activity of relativelyhomogenous nerve-cell units conducting essentially homogeneous impulses throughhomogeneous cerebral tissue. To match the multiple dimensions of mental experiencepsychologists could only point to a limitless variation in the spatiotemporal patterning of nerveimpulses.
1. Up until 1950, efforts to establish that brain processes and mental experience are related wouldmost likely have been met with
[A] vexation [B] irritability [C] discouragement [D] neutrality
2. The author mentions “common currency” primarily in order to emphasize the
[A] lack of differentiation among nerve impulses in human beings.
[B] similarities in the views of the scientists.
[C] similarity of sensations of human beings.
[D] continuous passage of nerve impulses through the nervous system.
3. Which of the following theories is reinforced by the depiction of the experiment in lines 16—19?
[A] Cognitive experience manifested by sensory nerve impulses are influenced by the area of thebrain stimulated.
[B] Qualitative diversity in nerve potentials can now be studied more accurately.
[C] Sensory stimuli are heterogeneous and are greatly influenced by the nerve sensors theyproduce.
[D] Differentiation in neural modalities influences the length of nerve transmissions.
4. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following exhibit the LEAST qualitativevariation?
[A] Nerve cells. [B] Nerve impulses.
[C] Cortical areas. [C] Spatial patterns of nerve impulses.
答案詳解：
1. C. 令人失望。答案見文章的第一句話“到了1950年，大腦活動過程和精神感受有關系的實驗結果看起來令人沮喪。”
A. 令人惱火。 B. 激怒。 D. 中立。 均不對。
2. A. 在人的神經脈沖中缺少變異(差別)。Common currency本義是一般通用。這里的上下問決定了它的含義“無變異脈沖(普通脈沖)”。第二段“雖然神經能量中的質變理論從沒有受到嚴厲的駁斥，但這一學說被普遍放棄，而贊成其對立的觀點;那就是：神經脈沖在質量沙鍋內基本相似，并作為無變異脈沖(普通脈沖)經神經系統(tǒng)傳送。”所以普通脈沖就是指神經脈沖無變異，在質量上基本相似。
B. 科學家觀點上的相似性。 C. 人類感覺相似性。 D. 神經脈沖連續(xù)不斷通過神經系統(tǒng)。這三項和common currency 無關。
3. A. 受刺激的大腦部位影響感覺神經脈沖所顯示的認知感受。在第二道題譯文下面“根據這一理論，不是感覺神經脈沖的質量決定它們所產生的各種有意識的感覺。而是由脈沖在大腦中釋放的不同部位決定，并且有證據證明這一論點。”見難句譯注3。
B. 現在對神經潛力的質量變化可以進行更精彩的研究。 C. 感官刺激是異源的，并深受它們所產生的神經感覺(感受器)的影響。 D. 神經形態(tài)上的差異影響神經傳遞長度。
4. B. 神經脈沖。這在第2題答案A中譯注(即第二段)已有明確的答復。“神經脈沖在質量上基本相似……。”
A. 神經細胞。見難句譯注2，“有可能用其他辦法來顯示神經細胞類型之間細微的結構差異。” C. 外皮區(qū)域(部位)。 D. 神經脈沖空間模式。見難句譯注5和本文最后一句“為了和精神感受多樣性吻合，心理學家只能指明神經脈沖時空模式上的無限差異。”這說明，它不是 “Leastqualitative variation.”
詞匯：
1. mental experiences 精神感受
2. discharge 釋放
3. negligible 微小的，可以忽略不計的
4. manifold 多種多樣的，多方面
5. neuron 神經元/細胞
6. neural (中樞)神經的(系統(tǒng))
7. qualitative diversity 質的多樣性，量變的
8. disprove 反駁，反證
9. homogeneous 相似的
10. sensory nerve 感覺神經
11. cortical 外皮的，皮質的
12. cerebral cortex 大腦皮層
13. locus 地點，區(qū)域
14. psychoneural 精神神經
15. heterogeneous 異源的，異種的，異體的
16. spatiotenporal 時空的
難句譯注：
1. Such variations in size, shape, chemistry, conduction speed, excitation threshold, and the like ashad been demonstrated in nerve cells remained negligible in significance for any possible correlationwith the manifold dimensions of mental experience.
[結構分析] 句型為such…as 可as 具有關系代詞作用，此處作從句中had been demonstrated 的主語。
[參考譯文] 神經細胞中所顯示的諸如在尺寸，形狀，化學，神經脈沖中傳導速度，激發(fā)界限等方面的那種變化差異對多方面的精神感受可能有聯系來說仍然意義不大。
2. It was possible to demonstrate by other methods refined structural differences among neurontypes; however, proof was lacking that the quality of the impulse or its conduction was influencedby these differences, which seemed instead to influence the developmental patterning of the neuralcircuits.
[參考譯文] 有可能用其他辦法來顯示神經類型之間細微的結構差異?？墒?，缺乏證據證實脈沖的或者其脈沖傳導的質量受這些差別的影響。相反，這種質量看起來它卻影響了中樞神經循環(huán)的進展模式。
3. In one experiment, when an electric stimulus was applied to a given sensory field of the cerebralcortex of a conscious human subject, it produced a sensation of the appropriate modality for thatparticular locus, that is, a visual sensation from the visual cortex, an auditory sensation from theauditory cortex, and so on.
[結構分析] 主從句。后面跟解釋性同位語：that is ……。
[參考譯文] 在一個實驗中，當電刺激作用于有意識的人體大腦皮層的某個感覺部位，它對這個特定部位產生一種恰如其分的感覺道，也就是說，視覺來自視覺皮層，聽覺來自聽皮層，以此類推。
4. Other experiments revealed slight variations in the size, number, arrangement, andinterconnection of the nerve cells, but as for as psychoneural correlations were concerned, theobvious similarities of these sensory fields to each other seemed much more remarkable than anyof the minute differences.
[參考譯文] 其他實驗揭示了神經細胞在尺寸，數目，排列和相互聯結上的細微變化?？墒?，就精神神經相互關系而論，這些感覺部位相互之間明顯的相似性似乎比任何細微差異更為明顯多。
5. In short, Brain theory suggested a correlation between mental experience and the activity ofrelatively homogenous nerve-cell units conducting essentially homogeneous impulses throughhomogeneous cerebral tissue.
[參考譯文] 總之，大腦理論說明精神感覺和相對相似的神經細胞單位的活動有關系。這種活動通過相似的大腦皮層組織傳導的基本相似的脈沖。
寫作方法與文章大意：
文章是對“大腦神經活動和精神感受關系的探討。”采用時空寫法。先從1950年，探索兩者關系的結果令人沮喪談起。在臨近本世紀轉折時期，由赫林提出的不同的感覺態(tài)可能和某種神經能量有關。經過一系列理論和經驗探索，最后得出大腦理論說明神經感受和相對相似的神經細胞單位活動有關的結論。這是一種通過相似的大腦結構引導相似脈沖的活動。
